


Fire

by zixinyu



Category: PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: M/M, also contains an exploding evronian so please be wary, art included inside!, because it's more of an indulgent fic, this is very cheesy and ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 15:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21056426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zixinyu/pseuds/zixinyu
Summary: "You can't just follow me into fire!""Then don't run into fire!"Uno knows how recklessly brave Donald is, sometimes a bit too reckless. Wherein Uno rescues the Duck Avenger from a burning building, and among other things.





	Fire

There is fire.

It hovers by the edges of Uno’s feet, close enough to burn him, but he pays it no mind. All he cares about right now is finding Donald.

The mansion is old, abandoned by its owners over a decade ago, and now serves only as a base for the Evronian group the Duck Avenger had tracked down. It's large, but the fire burning it inside out is even larger, and even on the second floor where he is, he is not safe from the flames. It burns up from the floor to the left over curtains and rugs. The heat is messing with his sensors, and not for the first time, Uno curses the primitive scanning system his more mobile droid body currently has. This building is almost at its limit, ready to collapse soon at any given moment, and with it, the Last Evronian general on Earth and the Duck Avenger, still locked in battle somewhere in the halls.

Something explodes in the far right wing, and the manor rumbles in distress.

Uno follows the noise and smoke towards the source, running through flames and falling debris. Fire burns his clothing as he jumps through wall after walls of flames, but it doesn't matter.

He has to find the Avenger.

He stumbles upon a wide ball room, littered with fallen debris and surrounded by flames. The large windows on both sides are all boarded up, the wood being the perfect food for the fire. A large Evronian is standing in the middle of the room on the ground floor, surrounded by bodies of his fallen comrades. Directly across him is the Avenger is emerging from under the pile of rubble.

He looks hurt, but he also looks angry and willing to fight despite the clear signs of exhaustion he is exhibiting.

Donald flinches as he slowly attempts to get himself fully out of the rocks he’s stuck in. His outfit is all torn up, and from here Uno can see his trusty shield next to him- broken into two and virtually unusable. The source of his distress, the reason why Uno has lost contact with Donald over an hour ago in a middle of battle.

It makes no sense- the shield itself is nearly impenetrable! As should the communication device in it be, unless the Evronian had managed to get his hands on Ducklair tech, and Uno would know if anything from the tower was stolen or tampered with.

He sees Donald get up and charge towards the alien-_ without his shield_, practically defenseless.

Uno has to resist the urge to scream as the Evronian simply laughs and dodges the feeble attack, throwing him back into the rubble he just came out of.

_What is he doing?! _

Reckless, stubborn fool of a duck! 

Uno glances over to the chandelier hanging over the villain, held together only by a single steel cord. The giant armored Evronian cackles loudly as he slowly makes his way to the still recovering Avenger, and Uno doesn’t think twice.

He moves back out into the halfway to get a running start. He leans against the walls and exhales, relaxing his systems all at once. The trajectory prediction program in his software calculates that it won’t be a direct hit, not unless he guides and times it correctly. He only has one shot.

Fortunately, he_ is_ a super AI- calculating under pressure is what he excels at.

He hears the laughter come closer, closer and then…

He _runs._

He leaps off the balcony of the second floor and onto the chandelier. It sways even further off to the side from the force of his landing- it creaks and groans, but it manages holds his weight. Uno grabs the steel cord tight and guides the chandelier back, trying to aim it as best as he can. He makes his palms heat up to unnaturally high temperatures, and with that combined heat and droid strength, he forcefully rips the cord into two just as it aligns over the villain’s head.

He hears the exclamation of surprise and pain from the Evronian as the golden structure slams into him and interrupts him amid his monologue.

Truly, typical of a villain.

He doesn't get back up again.

Good.

Uno jumps off the wreckage and runs towards Donald.

“Come on Old Cape,” He pulls Donald up, “We need to leave now!”

“Wait, wait,” Donald gasps out, "Wha- Uno? What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life you reckless duck." Uno gives up trying to steady Donald on his feet, and just gathers the duck up in his arms.

God, he's so_ light,_ and his analysis program screeches at the amount of wounds he has. Donald should have returned back to base when the shield broke. They could have formulated another plan. They could have waited and reinforced the Duck Avenger with more weapons, more armor to fight another day.

"What about the general? Uno, w-we can't just leave him here.”

Honestly, Uno isn't feeling so merciful, and just as he's about to inform Donald of this-

“Save your breath, earthling." A raspy voice croaks from under the chandelier, "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you!" 

Uno freezes as the same time Donald does. He only has a split second to look back to the damned Evronian pressing a small button on his left arm, before his entire purple outfit starts beeping and glowing.

Donald tugs on his shirt harshly, “Uno! Get us out of here!”

There's no time to run.

The shield is still on the ground next to him, and it’s broken into two, but one of the pieces should be large enough to cover a small body if he forces it to.

He bolts towards it with Donald still in his arms just as the alien explodes. 

-

Uno limps back slowly into the lair from the sewers, leaning heavily onto Donald.

The small salvageable pieces of the shield are in a bag slung over his only working shoulder. He’s lost feeling in his legs- torn open and barely holding themselves together, but they should be back online soon enough. The same can’t be said for his right arm. Donald is grumbling as he drags them both to the hidden elevator.

Uno would do the same if his processor would stop repeating the single moment of Donald running towards the villain with nothing but a beat up Kevlar suit and reckless bravery in his heart.

Fear grips his heart tight and he struggles to focus.

Before he knows it, they are finally at the 151st floor. 

“Where do I put you Uno?” Donald asks and looks around. He points out the nearby worktable he has been using to tinker on the parts of his droid body on and Donald dutifully drags him there.

He slowly sits on the table, and connects his hand to a nearby panel.

Instantly, the room comes to life with the whirring sounds of the machines. The lights turn on, and the windows' metal curtains slide open, showcasing the peaceful night sky. Mechanical hands come over and carefully rewires his two legs. He doesn’t have enough parts to make an entirely new set just yet. The droid body itself is still a work in progress. Uno will have to stay in this form for a bit longer to observe the repair process much closer to figure out the kinks.

But in his processor, he still sees it all unfold in slow motion.

Donald running towards the Evronian, weaponless.

Donald being slammed back.

Donald being hurt.

He growls and wills the hands to move faster to fix him.

Meanwhile, Donald sits down quietly on a nearby chair and starts pulling out the first aid kid.

Together, they fix themselves up in silence.

-

“That was really reckless of you, you know.” Donald pipes up later, and Uno stops his systems in the middle of making his new arm- not because he cannot multitask and focus on it, but because he cannot _believe Donald actually just went there._

“I’m sorry, what?” He sputters, “_I’m_ being reckless?”

“You told me the droid body isn’t stable! Why did you use it to come to the scene of the crime where the Evronians were wrecking things up?!"

“If I must remind you DA, it’s because an hour has passed since I lost contact with you! I couldn’t even see you through the satellite cameras! I was getting worried that you weren’t going to come back at all!”

“I had it covered!”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Uno huffs as he shifts his focus back to his programs.

The mechanical arms hooked up to his mainframe resumes their job of constructing his new arm.

“You were rushing towards him with nothing! You could have stopped and tried to strategize another plan of attack instead of trying to face him head on without a weapon! What were you thinking putting yourself into danger like that?!”

“I fight _criminals_ Uno- danger is part of the job!”

“I know it is. I know painfully well! But please Donald, you cannot keep throwing yourself so recklessly into every battle and coming home to me more broken than you were from every last fight!"

“Well, what about you?! You came into the ruined building where a super villain is going crazy, grabbed the shield to protect me and took on the blow of the explosion head on! What would have happened if I didn’t take the other part of the shield to protect you too from it huh?! You should have stayed back!"

“I couldn’t just wait in the tower twiddling my thumbs! I _had_ to run after you!”

His hands resting on the table balls into fists at the mere memory of the fear that gripped his processors when he lost touch with the Duck Avenger.

All he heard was the cry of pain from Donald, as three Evronians slammed themselves onto him. And then the feed was cut. Uno had frantically scanned all the cameras he could find in the near vicinity of the building. But it being an abandoned area in the forest, there was only so much he could do with satellite images. And when the waiting had become too unbearable, he had practically thrown himself into the droid body and rushed off after him. Fear motivating him to be faster and faster and _faster_.

He still can't process that fear, it lingers in the back of his mind on loop. It joins the other instances in his memory banks of Donald's last battles, each one more dangerous than the next.

“You didn’t have to put yourself in danger like that!” Donald yells, “You can’t just follow me into fire!”

Uno whips around in fury, and his processors; normally so in tune and patient to Donald’s feelings; does not flinch at the sight of his partner's eyes widening as he takes a few steps back away from Uno. Instead, he resolutely marches up towards the duck, “Then don’t run into fire!”

“You cannot just keep throwing yourself into danger so recklessly! Not this way! What I protected you from was _an explosion!_ My body is made of metal and steel, they’re completely replaceable!”

“Uno…”

Donald stares at him with widened eyes, and the sight of him alive in front of Uno brings him to his knees.

He sighs, fear in his chest giving way to exhaustion. He slowly shuffles closer to Donald, his only working arm raising up weakly towards his face.

This time, Donald doesn’t move away from him.

_“You,_ however, are not replaceable.”

Soft feathers meet his hand and Uno _aches_.

His other arm was blown off into smithereens. He cannot, _will not_, imagine the same happening to Donald. A world without his first _everything_ is not a world Uno wishes to be a part of, especially not if he passes from fighting things that Uno can help protect him from.

It is one of the many reasons on why he has started building a droid model. He doesn't like sitting in the tower, not when every other night the villains get tougher and meaner, and Donald comes home with more wounds than Uno knows what to do with. Each fight marks the hero and leaves him too exhausted to recover in time before the next villain of the week shows up. Over and over, especially these past six months.

“You and I are partners, Donald. And I go wherever you go.” Uno whispers, “So please, for both of our sakes, be more careful."

_Please, don't go where I cannot follow. _

Donald stares at him quietly for a heart wrenching moment, then nods and pulls him closer. Uno doesn't realize he's kneeling until he is wrapped up tightly in Donald's arms, until he himself wraps his single arm around Donald's waist and buries his face in his neck.

They stay that way for a long time.

-

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaa! That particular line from that Frozen 2 trailer! It's been on my mind ever since I heard it. It's been a few trying times too, so I wanted some fluff. I also wanted to project my fear for DA everytime he's so reckless in PKNA because istg I get so stressed. Please Don, fight carefully.
> 
> Big thank you for the people over at the crew discord server I'm in for helping me give the imagery of an angry protective Uno. It feels a bit off for him to be so protective of Donald when he's let and seen him do so many dangerous stunts in PKNA. My headcannon is just that Uno gets more and more protective as time goes on in their relationship from friends to lovers.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed making it!


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